






LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, | 

Chap. .l 5 L^.irX.S_ ^ 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 








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COL. K. G. INGERSOLL’S 


VINDICATION 


or 


THOMAS PAIHE. 


BOSTOX, MASS, r 

PUBLISHED BY J. B. IMEXDf^^M, 

TAIXE MEMORIAL RUILDESTG. 

1877. 









IkertisEini’Ht 




THU BOSTON INVESTIGATOR 

IS PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY MORNING, 

At Paine Memorial Building, Appleton Street, 
Boston, Mass. 

< BY J. P. MENDUAL 


HORACE SEAYER, Editor 


$3.50 A-IsTIsTUnVE. 


The Liberty of the Press, and the Liberty op the People. 

‘ MUST STAND OR FALL TOGETHER.” — Hume. 


The ‘‘BOSTON INVESTIGATOR” tvas establLshed as a tree, 
liberal paper, in 1830, by Abner Kneeland and others. It was 
designed as a medium for the discussion of many questions closely 
related to human progress — questions which received only an ex 
parte examination from the religious, priest-ridden world. It has 
shared, in many respects, the fate of all Reform journals; and has 
struggled with desperate perseverance against obstacles and ilifli- 
culties that have crushed innumerable stronger establishments. It is 
now, emphatically, a FREE PAPER, being open to ” Church, State, 
aftd Laity,” upon all questions coming within its professed range. 

Our past course must be a guaranty for the future, and we shall, to 
the best of our ability and means, seek to open the public mind to 
the discussion of those vital questions of reform which affect the 
welfare of man. 

We hold that religious bondage is unworthy of the human mind, v 

'y'' 

‘ and in place of it we shall strive to substitute the empire of reasi n 
and enlightened self-interest. 
























THC BOSTON INVESTIGATOR. 

We hold religious fear to be a base, degrading restraint upon the 
human will; and in place of it would substitute the true, maiily motive, 

— the love cf virtue and right, for their own merits. 

We hold the present wanton expenditure of capital in religious 

fanatic’.sru and profligacy to be inconsistent, criminal, worse than 
useless; and in place of it would substitute a systematic course of 
oenevolence and universal education. 

We hold that LABOR should be emancipated from its degrading 
vassalage to Capital; that all Legislation in favor of Capital and 
against LABOR should be immediately rescinded. 

We hold that the present systems of Banking and Landholding con¬ 
stitute two of the most accursed monopolies that were ever invented 
to defraud the laboring classes of “ wealth, liberty, and life.” 

We hold that the Bible, being the source of religious faiths, is also 
the source of social abuses, which now hang like a millstone upon the 
neck of society; and that there will be no social concord, r.o true 
principle of fraternity in society, while one class are set up as God’s 
elect, and another set down as God’s vilest reprobates. 

We hold that society can never be entirely purged of its abuses, of 
its monopolies,*of its cruel and despotic customs, until the Bible and 
its slave-holding, man-debasing, rum-distilling, war-sanctioning, aiid 
its gallows-blessing churches, are cast together into the sea of 

— oblivion. 

For all that pertains to the welfare of humanity; for all that tends 
to alleviate the burdens of labor ; for all that tends to enlighten and 
reform; for all that tends to increase happiness and lessen misery; 
to promote good and discourage evil; and, above all, for FREE 
DISCUSSION, tempered with brotherly love, the Investigator 
shall ever continue the unflinching advocate. And in our war upon 
abuses, of whatever nature, we shall uniformly endeavor to make the 
proper distinction between error and the erring —between the sin and 
the sinner ; always regarding our own conviction of right and wrong 
as the only guide, and measuring that right and wrong by the utility 
and happiness they produce or prevent. 

As a friend and champion of freedom, in its most beneficent appli- ^ \ 
cation, the Investigator has received the eulogium of friends and ^ 
the respect of its religious opponents. And its friends may rest N 














THE BOSTON INVESTIGATOR. 


\ assured that no pains will be spared to render it in future all that 

' they can desire, and, as in times past, much more than its compara¬ 

tively lirhited patronage will justify. 

A great many Liberals do not know even yet that such a paper is in 
existence, and others who do know, but have not seen it, know it 
only by the slanderous reports of its enemies. We wish to place the 
Investioatou before these two classes, that they may examine it 
for themselves; but, as we can of course know only a very few of them, 
we must mainly depend upo7i our friends to do this work for us. 
Some are in the habit of doing this, and obtain thereby a number 
of new subscribers. We appreciate such kindness most sensibly, for 
we know by experience, that in our unpopular movement the man 
who lends us a helping hand is no “ summer soldier nor sunshine 
patriot,” but a brother who stands to his post, blow high or low, and 
looks the tempest in the teeth. We have many such men on our 
list, and we are proud to be in such company. To them and to all 
other Liberals, whether old friends or new, we would say, that it will be 
our constant and earnest endeavor to render the Investigator as 
good as it has been, and as much better as we can possibly make it. 

Connected with the Investigator Office is a Book Publishing Office, 
from whence are issued the works of many of the masters of the anti- 
Church organizations of the past three centuries. Here may be 
found the works of Paine, Voltaire, TIume, Volney, <Src., with 
many minor publications of interest to all liberal minds. 

The importance of such an office and organ for the use and advance 
of anti-Chu7’ch opinions will be perceived by all; but it is a subject 
of deep regret that this perception of its vital necessity is not of so 
practical a nature as its merits demand. The financial connection of 
the paper and the book publishing department has alone enabled 
the publisher to keep his flag in the field ; anxiously waiting for a 
more advanced state of public opinion to obtain that patronage 
which is the just reward of sincere efforts to emancipate Mind and 
Labor from all oppressive thraldoms. 

Orders for Books, Papers. Pamphlets, etc., received by mail, 
and forwarded with despatch, on application to J. P, Mendum, Boston, 
Mass.; or by letter, post paid. 

All orders must be accompanied with the cash 













A VINDICATION 


OF 


THOMAS PAINE 

m REPLY TO 


The New York Observer, 

BY 

J 

ROBERT ariNGBRSOLL. 


■y 


To argue witli a man who has renounced the use and authority of 
reason, is like administering medicine to the dead. 

Thomas Paij^e. 


PUBLISHED BY 

J. P. MENDUM, BOSTON, MASS. 
1877. 













THE PUBLISHER’S PREFACE. 


THOMAS PAINE. 

The name of this illustrious Revolutionary 
Patriot has been a text from which the bigoted 
portion of the clergy have preached abuse and 
slander for a long series of years; and most of the 
religious papers of the times have, in their syco¬ 
phancy to the priesthood, reiterated and repeated 
the abuse and shameful falsehoods. No matter 
how formidable or truthful have been the replies 
made to their false stories and malignant asser¬ 
tions, they have never had the candor to admit a 
reply, nor to make any apology for the abuse be¬ 
stowed upon his name, nor given any proof of the 
truth of any of the stories made up and circulated 
by them against the great and illustrious dead. 
Their motto has indeed seemed to be, “If the 
truth of God hath more abounded through my lie 
unto his glory, why yet am I also judged as a sin¬ 
ner? And as if determined that the gospel should 
be sustained and propagated by any means, they 
have not hesitated to lie for the glory of God, and 
have abused the name of Thomas Paine as one of 
the means; supposing that such a course would be 
a suflicient reply, instead of examining his works 



11 


PREFACE. ' 


and answering the arguments contained therein, 
against the supposed authenticity of the Holv 
Bible. 

Year after year the clergy and their supporters 
have repeated their false stories, and as often as 
their truthless missiles have fallen in our way, 
they have been candidly examined and replied to: 
but not one instance that we are aware of, has 
occurred where our replies or the replies of any 
Liberal have been noticed or given a fair hearing 
by those who have defamed Thomas Paine. 

And to such lengths have these slanders been 
carried, that our very eloquent and talented lec¬ 
turer and efficient writer. Col. R. G. Ingersoll, de¬ 
termined if possible to silence these calumniators, 
made a liberal offer of one thousand dollars in 
GOLD, to any person who would prove that these 
base charges and assertions had any foundation in 
truth. The iV. Y. Editors, not knowing 

the strong determination of Col. Ingersoll, pretend- 
ed to produce evidence to substantiate these charges 
first denying that they had met the Colonel with 
abuse. But if they had supposed to silence the 
eloquent lecturer in tfiis way, they most surely 
“reckoned without their host;’’ for the exhaustive 
vindication in the following pages must convince 
every candid reader that the vindictive and ma¬ 
licious stories which have for so many years been 
used to frighten the timid and redound to the ben¬ 
efit of the church, were fabricated by enemies of 
Mr. Paine, and kept in circulation by the pious 
frauds who flourish all over our country, until 
nearly every one is familiar with these false death¬ 
bed scenes of Paine. 

With some parties alluded to by Col. Ingersoll 
in his Vindication, we were personally acquainted, 


PREFACE. 


iii 


especially with Mr. Woodsworth, having enjoyed 
Iiis company on several occasions at onr Paine 
celebrations. He always asserted that Paine was 
not an intemperate man — that he died with¬ 
out any sign of regret at the great part he had 
acted in writing the Age of Reason. We asked Mr. 
Woods worth on one occasion, if there was any 
truth in the story told of Paine calling on Jesus 
to help him? “No!” replied the old gentle¬ 
man, with much emphasis. “ But,” we asked, 
“ was there no ground at all for the assertion ?— 
Is it po.ssible that such a story could have origi¬ 
nated without any foundation whatever .^ ” 

“Well,” replied Mr. Woodsworth, “I will tell 
you the origin of that story, as I believe it. Mr. 
Paine had been sick many months, and from long 
confinement to his bed, had become very sore, 
which caused him considerable pain. When he 
was moved 1 was sometimes called in to assist in 
changing him from the bed he had occupied all 
night to one freslily made. Two or three morn¬ 
ings before his death I was asked in for this pur¬ 
pose, and as we placed him on the other bed, 
he, looking me very keenly in the eye, exclaimed, 
‘Oh ! Jesus, how you hurt me ! ’ , 

“ Nothing more was thought of it hy Iiis attend¬ 
ants than that it was an exclamation occasioned 
by great bodily pain. I went from the sick man’s 
house to a neighboring grocery, and there some one 
asked if 1 had been in to see Mr. Paine; and on 
being answered in the affirmative, inquired how 
he was, to which I replied that he was very low, 
and told the little incident as above related. Some 
parties overheard the conversation, and I pre¬ 
sumed went out and repeated it as near as it had 
been heard. Not long after, the story was circu- 


iv 


PREFACE. 


lated that Tliomas Paine just before liis dcatli 
called on Jesus I Thus you understand tlje origin 
of that story ; reported, no doubt, innocently by the 
listener, who bad not heard the whole of our con¬ 
versation, but told it as near as be lieard it, and 
being often repeated by different persons has be¬ 
come like the cloud seen by the Prophet; at first 
not bigger than a man’s hand, it has spread over 
the whole religious community, for the fanatics to 
entertain their gossip-loving hearers with.” 

In December, 1846, we were sent for to visit 
New York,-at the request of Judge Thomas Hert- 
tell, on some important business, and during our 
stay at his house the conversation turned on 
Thomas Paine and his habits. 'Mrs. Herttell told 
us that she knew Mr. Paine very well; that when 
she was a girl, living with her uncle. Dr. Young, 
l^aine was frequently a visitor at the house ; but 
never was it once intimated that he was an intem¬ 
perate man, nor did his appearance indicate that 
he was addicted to the excessive use of ardent 
spirits. 

Walter Morton, Esq., one of the executors to 
Paine’s will, thus speaks of his firmness as re¬ 
gards his religious views, which should be conclu¬ 
sive to establish the fact that Paine did not re¬ 
cant. falter, or tremble at the approach of death : 

“ In his religious opinions he continued to the 
last as steadfast and tenacious as any sectarian to 
the definition of his own creed. He never, indeed, 
broached the subject first, but to intrusive and in¬ 
quisitive visitors, who came to try him on that 
point, his general answer was to this oflect :—‘ My 
opinions are now before the world, and all have 
an opportunity to refute tliem if they can. I be- 


PREFACE. 


V 


lieve them unanswerable truths, and that 1 have 
done great service to mankind by boldly putting 
them forth. I do not wish to argue upon the sub¬ 
ject now. I have labored disinterestedly in the 
cause of truth.’ I shook his hand after his use of 
speech was gone ; but while the other organs told 
me sufficiently that he knew me and appreciated 
my affiection, his eye glistened with genius under 
the pangs of death.” 

We here leave the subject with Col. Ingersoll 
and the Neiv York Observer^ hoping our readers 
will peruse both sides, and then decide as to the 
truth of the slanders against Mr. Paine. To those 
who are aware of l!ie debt of gratitude due to the 
memory of Thomas Paine for the great services he 
has rendered the American Republic, we would 
say, in closing these remarks, that we have been 
instrumental in having erected in Boston a hand¬ 
some and useful edifice as an appropriate and de¬ 
served monument to his name and memory ; and as 
as there remains a large debt on the Paine Memo¬ 
rial, we earnestly call upon all his friends to help 
us pay it off. Contributions, large or small, will 
be most thankfully received, and honestly appro¬ 
priated to the object of freeing Paine Memorial of 
debt, and placing it in the hands of the Liberals 
of the country as a permanent Temple for the 
development and maintenance of Free Thought 
and Free Speech, as well as a fitting tribute to the 
life and services of the “Author-Hero of the 
American Revolution,” the great political and 
religious reformer of his age, the conqueror of 
kingcraft, priestcraft, and superstition, and the 
world-renowned champion of universal mental 
liberty, Thomas Paine. J. P. M. 



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THOMAS PAINE VINDICATED. 


“ To arp:ue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of 
reason, is like administering medicine to the dead.”—T uomasPaime. 


Peoria^ (TU.,) October 8, 1877. 
To THE Editor of the N. Y. Observer:— 

Sir:—Last June in San Francisco, I offered a thou¬ 
sand dollars in gold—not as a wager, but as a gift—to 
any one that would substantiate the absurd story that 
Thomas Paine died in agony and fear, frightened by the 
clanking chains of devils. I also offered the same 
amount to any minister that would prove that Voltaire 
did not pass away as serenely as the coming of the 
dawn. Afterwards 1 was informed that you had ac¬ 
cepted the offer, and had called upon me to deposit the 
money. Acting upon this information, I sent you the 
following letter: — 

Peoritty {III.,) August 31, 1877. 
To THE Editor of the New York Observer:— 

I Have Heen informed that you accepted, in yonr paper, an 
offer made by me to any cler^rymau in San Francisco. That 
offer was, that 1 would pay one thousand dollars in gold to 
any minister in that city, who would prove that Thomas 
Paine died in terror because of religious opinions he had ex- 
Xiressed, or that Voltaire did not pass away serenely as the 
coining of the dawn. 




4 


THOMAS PAINE VINDICATED. 


For many years religious journals and ministers have been 
circulating certain pretended accounts of the frightful agonies 
endured hy Paine and Voltaire when dying; that these great 
men at the moment of death were terrilied because they had 
given their honest opinions upon the subject of religion to 
their fellow-men. The imagination of the religious world has 
been taxed to the utmost in inventing absurd and infamous 
accounts of the last moments of these intellectual giants. 
Every Sunday School i^aper, thousands of idiotic tracts and 
countless stupidities, called sermons, have been filled with 
these calumnies-. 

Paine and Voltaire were both believers in God—both hoped 
for immortality—both believed in special Providence. Put 
both denied the inspiration of the Scriptures—both denied the 
divinity of Jesus Christ. While theologians most cheerfully 
admit that most murderers die without fear, they deny the 
possibility of any man who has expressed his disbelief in the 
inspiration of the Bible, dyin.g except in an agony of terror. 
These stories are used in reviA^als and in Sunday schools, and 
have long been considered of great value. 

I am anxious that these slanders should cease. I am 
desirous of seeing justice done, even at this late day, to the 
dead. 

For the purpose of ascertaining the evidence upon which 
these death-bed accounts really rest, 1 make to you the fol¬ 
lowing proposition:— 

First.—A h to Thomas Paine : I will deposit Avith the First 
National Bank of Peoria, Illinois, one thousand dollars iu 
gold, upon the folloAving conditions: This money shall be sub¬ 
ject TO your order Avhen you shall, in the manner hereinafter 
jirovided, substantiate that Thomas Paine admitted the Bible 
to be an inspired book, or that he recanted his Infidel opin¬ 
ions—or that he died regretting that he had disbelieA'ed the 
Bible—or that he died calling uiiou Jesus Christ in any re¬ 
ligious sense AA’hateA’er. 

"in order that a tribunal may be created to try this question, 
you may select one man, I aa'III select another, and the two 
thus chosen shall select a third, and any two of the three may 
decide the matter. 

As there Avill be certain costs and expenditures on both 
sides, such costs and expenditures shall be paid by the de¬ 
feated party. 

In addition to the one thousand dollars in gold. 1 will de¬ 
posit a bond with good and sufficient security in the sum of 
two thousand dollars, conditioned for the payment of all costs 
in case I am defeated. I shall require of you a like bond. 

From the date of accepting this offer you may hat'e ninety 
days to collect and present your testimony, giving me notice 
of time and place of taking depositions 1 slialfhaA^e a like 
time to take evidence upon my side, giving you like notice, 
and you shall then haA’e thirty days to take further testimony 
in reply to what I may offer. The case shall then be argued 


THOMAS PAINE VINDICATED. 


5 


before the persons chosen; and their decision shall he final as 
to us. 

If the arbitrator chosen by me shall die, I shall have the 
right to choose another. You shall have the same right. If 
the third one, chosen by our two, shall die, the two shall 
choose another; and all vacancies, from whatever cause, shall 
be filled upon the same principle. 

The arbitrators shall sit, when and where a majority may 
determine-, and shall have full power to pass upon all ques¬ 
tions arising as to competency of evidence and ux)ou all sub¬ 
jects. 

Second .—As to Voltaire; I make the same proposition. If 
you will substantiate that Voltaire died expressing remorse 
or showing in any way that he was in mental agony because 
he had attacked Catholicism—or because he had denied the 
inspiration of the Bible—or because he had denied the divinity 
of Christ. 

I make these propositions because I want your people to 
stop slandering the dead. 

If the propositions do not suit you in any particular, please 
state your objections, and I will modify them in any way con¬ 
sistent with the object in view.' 

If Paine and Voltaire died filled with childish and silly fear, 
I want to know it, and 1 want the world to know it. On the 
other hand, if the believers in superstition have made and 
circulated these cruel slanders concerning the mighty dead, I 
want the world to know that. 

As soon as you notify me of the acceptance of these propo¬ 
sitions, I wili send you the certificate of the bank that the 
money has been deposited upon the foregoing conditions, 
together with copies of bonds for costs. 

B. G. Ingersoll. 

In your paper of September 27tb, 1877, you acknow¬ 
ledge the receipt of the foregoing letter, and after giv¬ 
ing an outline of its contents, say : “ yVs not one of the 
affirmations, in the form stated in this letter, was con¬ 
tained in the offer we made, we have no occasion to sub¬ 
stantiate them. But we are prepared to produce the 
evidence of the truth of our own statement, and even to 
go further: ‘ to show not only that Tom Paine died a 
drunken, cowardly, and beastly death,’ but that for 
many years previous, and up to that event, be lived a 
drunken and beastly ‘life.’ ” 

In order to refresh your memory as to what you had 
published, I call your attention to the following, which 

py 


c 


THOMAS PAINE VINDICATED. 


appeared in the New York Observer the 19th of July, 
1877:— 


‘‘ Put Down the Money. 

‘‘Col. Bob Ingersoll in a speech full of ribaldry and 
blasphem}^, made in San Francisco recently, said:— 

‘I will pve $1,000 in gold coin to any clergyman wbo can 
substannate that tbe death of Voltaire was not as peaceful as 
the dawn, and of Tom Paine whom they assert died in fear 
and agony, frightened hythe clanking chains of devils—in 
fact frightened to death by Goil. 1 will give $1,000 likewise 
to any one who can substantiate this ‘ absurd stor3 ’—a story 
without a word of truth in it.’ 

“ We have published the testimony, and the witnesses 
are on hand to prove that Tom Paine died a drunken, 
cowardly, and beastly death. Let the Colonel deposit 
the money with any honest man and the absurd story, as 
he terms it, shall be shown to be an ower true tale. But 
he won't do it. His talk is Infidel ‘ Buncombe ’ and 
nothing more." 

On the 31st of August 1 sent you my letter, and on 
the 27th of September you say in your paper : “As not 
one of the affirmations in the form stated in this letter 
was contained in the offer we made, we have no occasion 
to substantiate them.” 

What were the affirmations contained in the offer you 
made ? I had offered a thousand dollars in gold to any 
one who would substantiate the “ ‘ absurd story ’ that 
Thomas Paine died in fear and agony, frightened by 
the clanking chains of devils—in fact frightened to 
death by God." 

In response to this offer you said : “ Let the Colonel 
deposit the money with an honest man and the ‘ absurd 
story,’ as he terms it, shall be shown to be an ‘ower 
true ’ tale. But he won’t do it. Ilis talk is Infidel 
‘ Buncombe ’ and nothing more.” 

Did you not offer to prove that Paine died in fear and 
agony, frightened by the clanking chains of devils ? 


THOMAS PAINE VINDICATED. 


7 


Did jou not ask me to deposit the money that you might 
prove the “ absurd story ” to be an “ ower true tale ” 
and obtain the money ? Did you not in your paper of 
the 27th of September in effect deny that you had offer¬ 
ed to prove this absurd story ? ” As soon as I offered 
to deposit the gold and give bonds besides to cover costs, 
did you not publish a falsehood ? 

You have eaten your own words, and, for my part, I 
would rather have dined with Ezekiel than with you. 

You have not met the issue. You have knowingly 
avoided it. The question was not as to the personal 
habits of Paine. The real question was and is, whether 
Paine was filled with fear and horror at the time of his 
death on account of his religious opinions ? That is the 
question. You avoid this. In effect, you abandon that 
charge, and make others. 

To you belongs the honor of having made the most 
cruel and infamous charges against T’homas Paine that 
have ever been made. Of what you have said you can¬ 
not prove the truth of one word. 

You say that Thomas Paine died a drunken, cowardly, 
and beastly death. 

I pronounce this charge to be a cowardly and beastly 
falsehood. 

Have you any evidence that he was in a drunken 
condition when he died ? 

What did he say or do of a cowardly character just 
before, or at about the time of his death ? 

In what way was his death cowardly ? You must 
answer these questions, and give your proof, or all 
honest men will hold you in abhorrence. You have 
made these charges. The man against whom you make 
them is dead. He cannot answer you. I can. He 
cannot compel you to produce your testimony, or admit 
by your silence that you have cruelly slandered the 
defenceless dead. I can and I will. You say that his 
death was cowardly. In what respect? Was it cow¬ 
ardly in him to hold the Thirty-Nine Articles in con¬ 
tempt? Was it cowardly not to call on your Lord? 


8 


THOMAS PAINE VINDICATED. 


Was it cowardly not to be afraid? You say that his 
death was beastly Again 1 ask, in what respect? 
Was it beastly to submit to the iuevitable with tran¬ 
quillity? Was it beastly to look with composure upon 
the approach of death? Was it beastly to die without 
a complaint, without a murmur—to pass from life with¬ 
out a fear ? » 


Did Thomas Paine Eecant ? 

Mr. Paine had prophesied that fanatics would crawl 
and cringe around him during his last moments. He 
believed that they would put a lie in the mouth of 
death. 

W hen the shadow of the coming dissolution was upon 
him, two clergymen, Messrs. Miliedollar and Cunning¬ 
ham, called to annoy the dying man. Mr. Cunning¬ 
ham had the politeness to say, You have now a full 
view of death—you cannot live long, and whosoever 
does not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ will assuredly 
be damned.” Mr. Paine replied, Let me have none of 
your Popish stuff. Get away with you Good morning.” 

On another occasion a Methodist minister obtruded 
himself when Willct Hicks was present. This minister 
declared to Mr. Paine “ that unless he repented of his 
unbelief he would be damned.” Paine, although at the 
door of death, rose in his bed and indignantly requested 
the clergjman to leave his room. On another occasion, 
two brothers by the name of Pigott, sought to convert 
him. He was displeased and requested their departure. 
Afterwards Thomas Nixon and Capt. Daniel Pelton visit¬ 
ed him for the express purpose of ascertaining whether 
he had, in any manner, changed his religious opii ions. 
They were assured by the dying man that he still held 
the principles he had expressed in his writings. 

Afterwards, these gentlemen hearing that William 
Cobbett was about to write a life of Paine sent him the 
following note:— 


THOMAS PAINE VINDICATED. 


9 


New York, April 24, 1818. 

Sir:— Having been informed that you liave a design to write 
a history of the life and writings of Thomas Paine, if you 
have been furnished with materials in respect to Ids religious 
opinions, or rather of liis recantation of his former opinions 
before his death, all you have heard of his recanting is false. 
Being aware that such reports would he raised after his death 
by fanatics which infested his house at the time it was ex- 
jiected he would die, we the subscribers, intimate acquaint¬ 
ances of Thomas Paine since the year 177G, went to his house. 
He was sitting u]) in a chair, and apparently in full vigor and 
use of all his mental faculties. We interrogated him upon 
bis religious opinions, and if he had changed his mind, or re¬ 
pented of anything he had said or wrote on that subject. He 
answered, Not at all,” and appeared rather offended at our 
supposition that any change should take place in his mind. 
We took down in writing the questions put to him, and his 
answers thereto, befoie a number of persons then in his room, 
among whom were his doctor, Mrs. Bonneville, &c. This 
paper is mislaid and cannot be found at pi'esent, but the 
above is tbe substance which can be attested by many living 
witnesses.” Thomas Nixon. 

Daniel Pelton. 

Mr. Jarvis, the artist, saw Mr. Paine one or two days 
before his death. To Mr Jarvis he expressed his be¬ 
lief in his written opinions upon the subject of religion. 
B. F. Haskin, an attorney of the City of New York, 
also visited him and inquired as to his religious opin¬ 
ions. Paine was then upon the threshhold of death, but 
he did not tremble. He was not a coward. He ex¬ 
pressed his firm and unshaken belief in the religious 
ideas he had given to the world. 

Dr. Manley was with him when he spoke his last 
words. Dr. Manley asked the dying man if he did not 
wish to believe that Jesus was the Son of Hod ? and the 
dying philosopher answered: “I have no wish to be¬ 
lieve on that subject.” Amasa Woodsworth sat up with 
Thomas Paine the night before his death. In 1839, 
Gilbert Vale hearing that Mr. Woodsworth was living 
in or near Boston, visited him for the purpose of getting 
his statement. The statement was published in the 
Beacon of June 5, 1839, while thousands who had been 
acquainted with Mr. Paine were living. 

The following is the article referred to:— 


10 


THOMAS PAINE VINDICATED 


“ We have just returned from Boston. One object of our 
visit to that city, was to see a Mr. Amasa Woodswortli, an en¬ 
gineer, now retired in a handsome cottage and garden at East 
Cambridge, near Boston. This gentleman owned the house 
occupied by Paine at bis death—while lie lived next door. As 
an act of kindness Mr. Woodswortli visited Mr. Paine every 
day for six weeks before his death. He frequently sat up 
with him, and did so on the last two nights of his life. He 
was always there with Dr. Manley, the jihysjcian, and 
assisted in removing Mr. Paine while his bed was prepared. 
He was present when Dr. Manley asked Mr. Paine, ‘if he 
wished to believe that Jesus Christ was the son of God,’ and 
he describes Mr. Paine's answer as animated. He says that 
lying on his back he used some action and with much em¬ 
phasis, replied, ‘ I have no wish to believe on that subject.’ 
He lived some time after this but was not known to speak, 
for he died tranquilly. He accounts for the insinuating style 
of Dr. Manley s letter, by stating that that gentleman just 
after its publication joined a church. He informs us that he 
has openly reproved the doctor for the falsity contained in 
the spirit of that letter, boldly declaring before Dr. Manley, 
who is yet living, that nothing which he saw justitied thejn- 
sinuations. Mr. Woodswortli assures us that he neither heanl 
nor saw anything to justify the belief of any mental change in 
the opinions of Mr. Paine previous to his death; but that 
being very ill and in pain chiefly arising from the skin being 
removed in some parts by long lying, he was generally too 
uneasy to enjoy conversation on abstract subjects. Thi.s, 
then, is the best evidence that can he procured on this sub¬ 
ject, and we publish it while the contravening parties are yet 
alive, and with the authority of Mr. Woodswortli.” 

Gilbekt Vale. 

A few weeks ago I received the following letter which 
confirms the statement of Mr. Vale:— 

Near Stockton. Cal., 1 
Greenwood Cottage, July 9, 1877. ) 
Col. Tngersoll: —In 1842 I talked with a gentleman in Bos¬ 
ton. I have forgotten his name; but he was then an engineer 
of the Charlestown navy yard, lam thus particular so that 
you can And his name on the hooks. lie told me that he 
nursed Thomas Paine in his last illness, and closed his eyes 
when dead. I asked him if he recanted and called upon God 
to save him. He replied, *‘No. He died as he had taught. 
He had a sore upon his side and when we turned him it was 
very painful and he would cry out, "Oh! God, oi something 
like that.” ” But.” said the narrator, " that was n^ thing, for 
he believed in a God.’ I told him that 1 had otter heard it 
asserted from the pulpii that Mr. Paine had recanted in his 
last moments. The gentleman said that it was not true, and 
he appeared to he an intelligent, truthful man. 

With respect I remain, &;c., Philip Graves, M. D. 


THOMAS PAIKE VINDICATED. 


11 


The next witness is Willet Hicks, a Quaker preacher. 
He says that during the last illness ^of-i\lr. Paine he 
visited him almost daily, and that Paine died firmly 
convinced of the truth of the religious opinions he had 
given to his fellow men. It was to this same Willet 
Hicks that Paine applied for permission to be buried in 
the cemetery of the Quakers. Permission was refused. 
This refusal settles the question of recantation. If he 
had recanted, of course there could have been no objec¬ 
tion to his body being buried by the side of the best 
hypocrites on the earth. If Paine recanted why should 
he be denied “a little earth for charity?” Had he 
recanted, it would have been regarded as a vast and 
splendid triumph for the Gospel. It would with much 
noise and pomp and ostentation have been heralded 
about the world. 

1 received the following letter to-day. The writer is 
well known in this city, and is a man of high charac¬ 
ter:— 


Peoria, Oct. 8, 1877. 

Egbert G Ingersoll: — Esteemed Friend: — My parents 
were Friends (Quakers.) My father died when 1 was very 
young. The elderly and middle-aged Friends visited at my 
mother's house We lived in the city of New York Among 
The number 1 distinctly remember Elias Hicks, Willet Hicks, 

and a Mr - Hay who was a bookseller in Pearl Street. 

Theie were many others whose names I do not now remem¬ 
ber. The subject of the recantation of Thomas Paine of his 
views about the Hible in liis last illness or at any other time 
was discussed by them in my presence at different times. I 
learned from them thatsomeof themhad.attendeduponThom- 
as Paine in his last sickness and ministered to his wants up to 
the time of his death. And upon the question of whether he 
did recant, there was but one expression. They all said that 
he did not recant in any manner. 1 often beard them say that 
they wish he had recanted. In fact, according to them, the 
neaVer he approached death the more positive he appeared to 
be in his convictions. 

These conversations wherefrom 1820 to 1822. I was at the 
time from ten to twelve years old, but these conversations 
impressed themselves ui^on me because many thoughtless 
people then blamed the iSociety of Friends for their kindness 
to the arch-Inhdel,” Thomas Paine. 

Truly yours, 


A. C. Hankinson. 


12 


THOMAS PAINE VINDICATED. 


A few days ago 1 received the following letter:— 

Alhamj, {N Y.,) Sept. 27, 1877. 

Dear Sib: —It is over twenty years ago that professionally 
I made the acquaintance of John Hogehooin, a Justice of tho 
Peace of the County of Rensselaer, New York. He was then 
o\"er seventy years of age and had the reputation of being a 
man of candor and integrity. He was a great admirer of 
Paine He to)d me that he was personally acquainted with 
him, and used to see him frequently during the la'J years of 
his life in the city of New York, where Hogel>oom then re¬ 
sided. 1 asked him if there was any.truth in the charge that 
Paine was in the habit of getting drunk? He said that it was 
utterly false; that he never heard of such a thing during the 
life-time of Mr. Paine, and did not believe any one else did. 
I asked him about the recantation of his religious opinions on 
his death-bed, and the revolting death-bed scenes that the 
world had heard so much about. He said there was no truth 
in them, that he had received his information from persons 
who attended Paine in his last illness, “ and that he passed 
peacefully away as we may say in the sunshine of a great 
soul.” Yours truly, W J. Hilton. 

The witnesses by whom I substantiate the fact that 
Thomas Paine did not recant, and that he died holding 
the religious opinions he had published, are 

First —Thomas Nixon, Captain Daniel Pelton, B. F. 
Haskin. These gentlemen visited him during his last 
illness for the purpose of ascertaining whether he had 
in any respect changed his views upon religion. He 
told them that he had not. 

Second —James Cheetham. This man was the most 
malicious enemy Mr. Paine had, and yet he admits that 
“Thomas Paine died placidly, and almost without a 
struggle.”—[See Life of Thomas Paine, by James Cheet¬ 
ham. 

Third —The ministers, Milledollar and Cunningham. 
These gentlemen told Mr. Paine that if he died without 
believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, he would be damned, 
and Paine replied, “ Let me have none of your Popish 
stuff. Good morning.”—[See Sherwin’s Life of Paine, 
page 220. 

Mrs.-Hedden. She told these same preach- 


THOMAS TAINE VINDICATED. 


13 


ers when they attempted to obtrude themselves upon 
Mr. Paine again, that the attempt to convert Mr. Paine 
was useless—“that if God did not change his mind no 
human power could.” 

Fifth —Andrew A. Dean. This man lived upon Mr. 
Paine s farm at New Rochelle, and corresponded with 
him upon religious subjects.—j_See Paine’s Theological 
Works, page 308. 

Sixth —Mr. Jarvis, the artist with whom Paine lived. 
He drives an account of an old lady coming to Paine and 
telling him that God Almighty had sent her to tell him 
that unless he repented and believed in the blessed Sa¬ 
viour he would be damned. Paine replied that God 
would not send such a foolish old woman with such an 
impertinent message. — [See Clio Rickman’s Life of 
Paine. 

Seventh —William Carver, with whom Paine boarded. 
Mr. Carver said again and again that Paine did not re¬ 
cant. He knew him well, and had every opportunity of 
knowing.—[See Life of Paine by Vale. 

Eighth. —Dr. Manley, who attended him in his last 
sickness, and to whom Paine spoke his last words. Dr. 
Manley asked him if he did not wish to believe in Jesus 
Christ, and he replied : “ I have no wish to believe on 
that subject.” 

Finth —Willet Hicks and Elias Hicks, who were with 
him frequently during his last sickness, and both of 
whom tried to persuade him to recant. According to 
their testimony Mr. Paine died as he had lived—a be¬ 
liever in God, and a friend of man. Willet Hicks was 
offered money to say something false against Thomas 
Paine. Ho w'as even offered money to remain silent and 
allow others to slander the dead. Mr. Hicks, speaking 
of Thomas Paine, said: “ He was a good man—an hon¬ 
est man ”—[See Vale’s Life of Paine. 

2'enth —Amasa Woods worth, who was with him every 
day for some six weeks immediately preceding his death, 
2 


14 


THOMAS PAINE VINDICATED. 


and sat up with him the last two nights of his life. This 
man declares that Paine did not recant, and that he died 
tranquilly. The evidence of Mr. Woodsworth is con¬ 
clusive. 

Eleventh —Thomas Paine himself. The will of Thomas 
Paine written by himself commences as follows : 

The last will and testament of me the subscriber, 
Thomas Paine, reposing confidence in my creator God, 
and in no other being, for 1 know of no other, nor be¬ 
lieve in any other,” and closes in these words: 1 have 
lived an honest and useful life to mankind ; my time 
has been spent in doing good ; and I die in perfect com¬ 
posure and resignation to the will of my creator God.” 

Twelfth —If Thomas Paine recanted, why do you pur¬ 
sue him? If he recanted, he died substantially in your 
belief. For what reason then do you denounce his death 
as cowardly? It upon his death-bed he renounced the 
opinions he had published, the business of defaming 
him should be done by Infidels, not by Christians. I ask 
you if it is honest to throw away the testimony of his 
friends—the evidence of fair and honorable men—and 
take the putrid words of avowed and malignant enemies? 

When Thomas Paine was dying, he was infested by 
fanatics—by the snaky spies of bigotry. In the shad¬ 
ows of death were the unclean birds of prey waiting to 
tear with beak and claw the corpse of him who wrote 
the “flights of Man.” And there lurking and crouch¬ 
ing in the darkness were the jackals and hyenas of su¬ 
perstition ready to violate his grave. 

The.'^e birds of prey—these unclean beasts, are the 
witnesses produced and relied upon by you. 

One by one the instruments of torture have been 
wrenched from the cruel clutch of the church, until 
within the armory of Orthodoxy there remains but one 
weapon—Slander. 

Against the witnesses that I have produced, you can 
bring just two—Mary lloscoe and Mary Hinsdale. The 


THOMAS PAINE VINDICATED. 15 

first is referred to in the memoir of Stephen Grrellet. 
She had once been a servant in his house. Grel- 
let tells what happened between this girl and Paine. 
According to this account Paine asked her if she had 
ever read any of his writings, and on beinglold that she 
had read very little of them, he inquired what she 
thought of them, adding that from such an one as she 
he expected a correct answer. 

Let us examine this falsehood. TV hy would Paine ex¬ 
pect a correct answer about his writings from one who 
had read very little of them? Does not such a state¬ 
ment devour itself? This young lady further said that 
the “ Age of Beason ” was put in her hands, and that 
the more she read in it, the more dark and distressed 
she felt, and that she threw the book into the tire. Where¬ 
upon Mr. Paine remarked, “ I wish all had done as you 
did, for if' the devil ever had any agency in any work, 
he had it in my writing that book.” 

The next is Mary Hinsdale. She was a servant in 
the family of Willet Hicks. She, like Mary Eoscoe, was 
sent to carry some delicacy to Mr. Paine. To this young 
lady Paine, according to her account, said precisely the 
same that he did to ilary Roscoe, and she said the same 
thing to Mr. Paine, 

My own opinion is that Mary Roscoe and Mary Hins¬ 
dale are one and the same person, or the same story has 
been by mistake put in the mouth of both. 

It IS not possible that the same conversation should 
have taken place between Paine and Mary Roscoe, and 
between him and Mary Hinsdale. 

Mary Hinsdale lived with Willet Hicks, and he pro¬ 
nounced her story a pious fraud and fabrication. He 
said that Thomas Paine never said any such thing to 
Mary Hinsdale —[See Vale’s Life of Paine. 

Another thing about this witness. A woman by the 
name of Mary Lockwood, aHicksite Quaker, died. Mary 
Hinsdale met her brother about that time and told him 
that his sister had recanted, and wanted her to say so at 
her funeral This turned out to be false. 


16 


THOMAS PAINE VINDICATED. 


It has been claimed that Mary Hinsdale made her 
statement to Charles Collins. Long after the alleged 
occurrcLce, Gilbert Vale, one of the biographers of 
Paine, had a conversation with Collins concerning Alary 
Hinsdale. Yale asked him what he thought of her. He 
replied that some of the Friends believed that she used 
opiates, and that they did not give credit to her state¬ 
ments. He also said that he believed what the Friends 
said, but thought that when, a young woman, she might 
have told the truth. 

In 1818 William Cobbett came to New York. He 
began collecting materials for a life of Thomas Paine. 
In this way he became acquainted with Alary Hinsdale 
and Charles Collins. Air Cobbett gave a lull account 
of what happened in a letter addressed to the Norwich 
Mercury in 1819. From this account it seems that 
Charles Collins told Cobbett that Paine had recanted. 
Cobbett called for the testimony, and told Air. Collins 
that he must give time, place, and the circumstances. 
He finally brought a statement that he stated had been 
made by Alary Hinsdale. Armed with this document 
Cobbett, in October of that year, called upon the said 
Alary Hinsdale, at No. 10 Anthony street. New York, 
and showed her the statement. Upon being questioned 
by Air. Cobbett, she said : That it was so long ago she 
could not speak positively to any part of the matter,; 
that she would not say that any part of the paper was 
true ; that she had never seen the paper, and that she 
had never given Charles Collins authority to say any¬ 
thing about the matter in her name.’* And so in the 
month of October in the year of Glrace 1818, in the mist 
and fog of forgetfulness disappeared forever one Alary 
Hinsdale, the last and only witness against the intellec¬ 
tual honesty of Thomas Paine. 


THOMAS PAINE VINDICATED. 


17 


Did Thomas Paine Die in Destitution and Want ? 

The charge has been made over and over again that 
Thomas Paine died in want and destitution ; that he 
was an abandoned pauper—an outcast without friends, 
and without money. This charge is just as false as the 
rest. Upon his return to this country in 1802, he was 
worth S30,000, according to his own statement made at 
that time in the following letter addressed to Clio Eick- 
man: — 


My Dear Friend: —Mr. Monroe, who is appointed minister 
extraordinary to France, takes charge of this, to he delivered 
to Mr. Esre, hanker in Paris, to he forwarded to you. 

I arrived at Baltimore 30tli of October, and yoii can have no 
idea of the agitation wliich my arrival occasioned. From New 
Hampshire to Georgia (an extent of 1,500 miles) every news¬ 
paper was tilled with applause or abuse. 

My property in this country has been taken care of by my 
friends, and is now worth six thousand pounds sterling, which 
put in the funds will bring me £400 sterling a year. 

Remember me in affection and friendship to your wife and 
family, and in the circle of your friends, 

Thomas Paine. 

A man in those days worth thirty thousand dollars 
was not a pauper. That amount would bring an income 
of at least two thousand dollars per annum. Two thou¬ 
sand dollars then would be fully equal to five thousand 
dollars now. 

On the .12th of Jul}^ 1809, the year in which he died, 
Mr. Paine made his will. From this instrument we 
learn that he was the owner of a valuable farm within 
twenty miles of New York. He also was the owner of 
thirty shares in the New York Phoenix Insurance Com¬ 
pany, worth upwards of fifteen hundred dollars. Be 
sides this, some personal property and ready money. By 
his will he gave to Walter Morton, and Thomas Addis 
Emmet, brother of Robert Emmet, two hundred dollars 
each, and one hundred to the widow of Elihu Palmer. 

Is it possible that this will was made by a pauper, by 
2 - 


JS 


THOMAS TAINE VINDICATED. 


a destitute outcast, by a man who suffered for the ordi¬ 
nary necessaries, of life V 

But suppose, for the sake of the argument, that he 
was poor, and that he died a beggar; does that tend to 
show that ihe Bible is an inspired book, and that Calvin 
did not burn Servetus? Do you really regard poverty 
as a crime ? If Paine had died a millionaire would you 
have accepted his religious opinions? If Paine had 
drank nothing but cold water would you have repudi¬ 
ated the five cardinal points of Calvinism ? Does an 
argument depend for its force upon the pecuniary condi¬ 
tion of the person making it ? As a matter of fact, 
most reformers—most men and women of genius, have 
been acquainted with poverty. Beneath a covering of 
rags have been found some of the tenderest and bravest 
hearts. 

Owing to the attitude of the church for the last fif¬ 
teen hundred years, truth-telling has not been a very 
lucrative business. As a rule, hypocrisy has worn the 
robes, and honesty the rags. That day is passing away. 
You cannot now answer the argument of a man, by point¬ 
ing at holes in his coat. Thomas Paine attacked the 
church when it was powerful; when it had what it called 
honors to bestow ; when it was the keeper of the public 
conscience; when it was strong and cruel. The church 
waited till he was dead, and then attacked his reputa¬ 
tion and his clothes. 

Once upon a time a donkey kicked a lion. The lion 
was dead. 


Did Thomas Paine Live the Life of a Drunken 
Beast,and Did He Die a Drunken, Cowardly and 
Beastly Death ? 

Upon you rests the bur.Ieii of substantiating these in¬ 
famous charges. 

You have, i suppose, produced the best evidence in 


THOMAS PAINE VINDICATED. 19 

your possession, and that evidence I will now proceed to 
examine. Your first witness is Grant Thorburn. He 
makes three charges against Thomas Paine. 1st. That 
his wife obtained a divorce from him in England for cru¬ 
elty and neglect. 2d. That he was a defaulter, and 
fled from England to America. 3d. That he was a 
drunkard. These three charges stand upon the same 
evidence—the word of Grant Thorburn. If they are not 
all true, Mr. Thorburn stands impeached. 

The charge that Mrs. Paine obtained a divorce on ac¬ 
count of the cruelty and neglect of her husband, is ut¬ 
terly false. There is no such record in the world, and 
never was. Paine and his wife separated by mutual 
consent. Each respected the other. They remained 
friends. This charge is without any foundation in fact. 
1 challenge the Christian world to produce the record of 
this decree of divorce. According to Mr. Thorburn it 
was granted in England. In that country public records 
are kept of all such decrees. Have the kindness to pro¬ 
duce this decree, showing that it was given on account 
of cruelty, or admit that Mr. Thorburn was mistaken. 

Thomas Paine was a just man. Although separated 
from his wife, he always spoke of her with tenderness 
and respect, and frequently sent her money without let¬ 
ting her know the source from whence it came. Was 
this the conduct of a drunken beast? 

The second charge, that Paine was a defaulter in Eng¬ 
land and fled to America, is equally false. He did not 
flee from England. He came to America, not as a fugi¬ 
tive, but as a free man. He came with a letter of intro¬ 
duction signed by another Infidel, Benjamin Franklin. 
He came as a soldier of Freedom—an apostle of Liberty. 

In this second charge there is not one word of truth. 

He held a small office in England. If he was a de¬ 
faulter the records of that country will show that fact. 

Mr. Thorburn, unless the record can be produced to 
substantiate him, stands convicted of at least two mis¬ 
takes. 

Now as to the third : He says that in 1802 Paine was 


20 


THOMAS PAINE VINDICATED. 


an “ old remnant of mortality, drunk, bloated, and half 
asleep.’* 

Can any one believe this to be a true account of the 
personal appearance of Mr. Paine in 1802? He had 
just returned from France. He had been welcomed home 
by Thomas Jefferson, who had said that he was entitled 
to the hospitality of every American. 

In 1802 Mr. Paine was honored with a public dinner 
in the city of New York. He was called upon and treat¬ 
ed with kindness and respect by such men as De Witt 
Clinton 

In 1806 Mr. Paine wrote a letter to Andrew A Dean 
upon the subject of religion. Eead that letter and then 
say that the writer of it was an “ old remnant of mor¬ 
tality, drunk, bloated, and half asleep.” Search the 
files of the New York Observer from the first issue to the 
last, and you will find nothing superior to this letter. In 
1803 Mr. Paine wrote a letter of considerable length, 
and of great force, to his friend Samuel Adams. Such 
letters are not written by drunken beasts, nor by rem¬ 
nants of old mortality, nor by drunkards. It was about 
the same time that be wrote his “ Eemarks on Eobert 
Hall’s Sermons.” Tfiese Eemarks ” were not written 
by a drunken beast, but by a clear-headed and thought¬ 
ful man. 

In 1804 he published an essay on the invasion of 
England, and a treatise on gun-boats, full of valuable 
maritime information. In 1805 a treatise on yellow fe¬ 
ver, suggesting modes of prevention. In short, he was 
an industrious and thoughtful man. He sympathised 
with the poor and oppressed of all lands. He looked 
upon monarchy as a species of physical slavery. He had 
the goodness to attack that form of government. He re¬ 
garded the religion of bis day as a kind of mental sla¬ 
very. He had the courage to give his reasons for his 
opinions. His reasons filled the churches with hatred. 
Instead of answering his arguments they attacked him. 
Men who were not fit to blacken his shoes, blackened 
bis character. 


THOMAS PAINE VINDICATED. 


21 


There is too much religious cant in the statement of 
Mr. Thorburn. He exhibits too much anxiety to tell 
what Grant Thorburn said to Thomas Paine. He names 
Thomas Jefferson as one of the disreputable men who 
welcomed Paine with open arms. The testimony of a 
man who regarded Thomas Jefferson as a disreputable 
person, as to the character of anybody, is utterly without 
value. ^ 

In my judgment the testimony of Mr. Thorburn should 
be thrown aside as wholly unworthy of belief. 

Your next witness is Rev. J. D. Wickham, D. D , who 
tells what an elder in his church said. This elder said 
that Paine passed his last days on his farm at New Ro¬ 
chelle with a solitary female attendant. This is not 
true. He did not pass his last days at New Rochelle. 
Consequently this pious elder did not see him during 
his last days at that place. Upon this elder we prove 
an alibi. Mr Paine passed his last days in the city of 
New York in a house upon Columbia street. The story 
of the Rev. J. D. Wickham, D. D., is simply false. 

The next competent false witness is the Rev. Charles 
Hawley, D. D , who proceeds to state that the story of 
the Rev. J. D. W., is corroborated by older citizens of 
New Rochelle. The names of these ancient residents are 
withheld. According to these unknown witnesses the 
account given by the deceased elder was entirely correct. 
But as the particulars of Mr. Paine’s conduct “ were 
too loathsome to be described in print,” we are left en¬ 
tirely in the dark as to what he really did 

While at New Rochelle Mr. Paine lived with Mr. 
Purdy, with Mr. Dean, with Capt. Pelton, and with Mr. 
Staple. It is worthy of note that all of these gentlemen 
give the lie direct to the statements of ‘mlder residents ” 
and ancient citizens spoken of by the Rev. Charles Haw¬ 
ley, D. D., and leave him with his “loathsome particu¬ 
lars” existing only in his own mind 

The next gentleman you bring upon the stand is W. 
H. Ladd, who quotes from the memoirs of Stephen Grel- 
let. This gentleman has also the misfortune to be dead. 


22 


THOMAS PAINE VINDICATED. 


AccordiDg to his account Mr. Paine made his recanta¬ 
tion to a servant girl of his by the name of Mary Eoscoe. 
To this girl, according to the account, Mr. Paine uttered 
the wish that all who read his book had burned it. I 
believe there is a mistake in the name of this girl. Her 
name was probably Mary Hinsdale, as it was once 
elaimed that Paine made the same remark to her, but 
this point I shall notice hereafter. These are your wit¬ 
nesses, and the only ones you bring forward to support 
your charge that Thomas Paine lived a drunken and 
beastly life, and died a drunken, cowardly, and beastly 
death. All these calumnies are found in a life of Paine 
by a Mr. Cheetham, the convicted libeller already re¬ 
ferred to. Mr. Cheetham was an enemy of the man 
whose life he pretended to write 

In order to show you the estimation in which Mr. 
Cheetham was held by JMr. Paine, I will give you a copy 
of a letter that throws light upon this point. 

October 1807. 

Mr. Cheetham: —Unless you make a public apology for the 
abuse and falsehood in your paper of Tuesday, October 27th, 
resiiectiug me, 1 will prosecute you for lying. * * * 

Thomas Paine. 

In another letter, speaking of this same man, Mr. 
Paine says: “ If an unprincipled bully cannot be re¬ 
formed, he can be punished.” “ Cheetham has been so 
long in the habit of giving false information, that truth 
is to him like a foreign language.” 

Mr. Cheetham wrote the life of Paine to gratify his 
malice and to support religion. He was prosecuted for 
libel; was convicted and fined. 

Yet the life of Paine written by this man is referred 
to by the Christian world as the highest authority ! 

As to the personal habits of Mr. Paine, we have the 
testimony of William Carver with w'hom he lived ; of Mr. 
Jarvis, the artist, with whom he lived; of Mr. Staple, 
with whom he lived; of Mr. Purdy, who was a tenant 


THOMAS PAINE VINj^ICATED. 


23 


of Paine; of Air. Burger, with whom he was intimate ; 
of Thomas Nixon, and Gapt Daniel Pelton, both of whom 
knew him well; of Amasa VVoodsworth, who was with 
him when he died; of John Fellows, who boarded at the 
same house ; of James Wilburn, with whom he boarded; 
of B. F. Haskin, a lawyer, who was well acquainted with 
him and called upon him during his last illness; of 
Walter Morton, President of the Plioenix Insurance 
Company; of Clio Rickman, who had known him for 
many years ; of Willet and Elias Hicks, Quakers, who 
knew him intimately and well; of Judge Thomas Her- 
tell, H. Margery, Elihu Palmer, and many others. All 
these testified to the fact that Mr. Paine was a temper¬ 
ate man. In those days nearly everybody used spirit¬ 
uous liquors. Paine was not an exception ; but he did 
not drink to excess. Mr. Lovett, who kept the City 
Hotel where Paine stopped, in a note to Caleb Bingham, 
declared that Paine drank less than any boarder he had. 

Against all this evidence you produce the story of 
Grant Thorburn; the story of the Rev. J. D Wickham, 
that an elder in his church told him that Paine was a 
drunkard, corroborated by the Rev. Charles Hawley, and 
an extract from Lossing’s history to the same effect. The 
evidence is overwhelmingly against you. Will you have 
the fairness to admit it ? Your witnesses are merely the 
repeaters of the falsehoods of James Cheetham the con¬ 
victed libeller. 

After all, drinking is not as bad as lying. An honest 
drunkard is better than a calumniator of the dead. “ A 
remnant of old mortality, drunk, bloated, and half 
asleep,” is better than a perfectly sober defender of hu¬ 
man slavery. 

To become drunk is a virtue compared with stealing 
a babe from the breast of its mother. 

Drunkenness is one of the beatitudes, compared with 
editing a religious paper devoted to the defence of sla¬ 
very upon the ground that it is a divine institution. 

Do you really think that Paine was a drunken beast 
when he wrote “ Common Sense,” a pamphlet that 


24 


THOMAS PAINE VINDICATED. 


aroused three millions of people, as people were never 
aroused by words before V Was he a drunken beast 
when he wrote “The Crisis?” Was it to a drunken 
beast that the following letter was addressed 


By General Washington? 


Rocky Hill, September 10, 1783. 

I liave learned since I have been at this place, that you are 
at Bordentown. Wliether for the sake of reiirenaent or econo¬ 
my 1 know not. Be it for either or both, or whatever it may, 
if you will come to this i)lace and partake with me 1 shall he 
excee(lin' 2 ;ly happy to see you at it, Your i:>reseuce may re¬ 
mind Congress of ,vour past services to this country; and if it 
is in my power to impress them, command my best exertions 
with freedom, as they will be rendered cheerfully by one who 
entertains a lively sense of the importance of your works, and 
wdio with much pleasure subscribes himself 

Your Sincere Friend, Gteorge Washington. 

Did any of-your ancestors ever receive a letter like 
. that ? 

Do you think that Paine was a drunken beast*^when 
the following letter was received by him 


Prom Thomas Jefferson ? 

“ You express a wish in your letter to return to America in 
a national ship; Mr. Dawson, who brings over the treaty, and 
who will present you with this letter, is chai^t^ed with orders 
to the captain of the ^Maryland to receive and accommodate 
you back, if you can be ready to depart at such a short warn¬ 
ing?. You will in general lind us returned to sentiments wor¬ 
thy of former times; in these it loill be your glory to have 
steadily labored and with as mtich effect as any man living. That 
you may live lon.ii to continue your useful labors, and reap 
the reward in the thankfulness of nations, is my sincere prayer. 
Accept the assurances of my hi^^h esteem, and affectionate 
attachment.” Thomas Jefferson. 

Did any of your ancestors ever receive a letter like 
that ? 


THOMAS PAINE VINDICATED. 


25 


“ It lias been very generally propagated through the conti¬ 
nent that I wrote the pamphlet ‘ Common Sense.’ I could 
not have written anything in so manly and striking a style.” 

John Adams. 

“ A few more such flaminrj arguments as were exhibited at 
Falmouth and Norfolk, added to the sound doctrine and un¬ 
answerable reasoning contained in the pamphlet ‘Common 
Sense,’ will not leave numbers at a loss to decide on the pro¬ 
priety of a separation.” George Washington. 

“It is not necessary for me to tell you how much all your 
countrymen—1 speak of the great mass of the people—are in¬ 
terested in your welfare. They have not forgotten the history 
of their own revolution and tluj difficult scenes through which 
they passed; nor do they review its several stages without re¬ 
viving in their bosoms a due sensibility of the merits of those 
who served them in that great and arduous conflict. The 
crime of ingratitude has not yet stained, and I trust never 
will stain, our national character. You are considered by 
them as not only having rendered important services in our 
own revolution, but as being on a more extensive scale the 
friend of human rights, and a distinguished and able advocate 
in favor of public liberty. To the welfare of Thomas Paine, 
the Americans are not, nor can they be, indifferent. 

James Monroe. 

Did any of your ancestors ever receive a letter like 
that ? 


“No writer has exceeded Paine in ease and familiarity of 
style, in perspicuity of expression, happiness of elucidation, 
and in simple and unassuming language.” 

Thomas Jefferson. 

Was ever a letter like that written about an editor of 
the New York Observer "i 

Was it in consideration of the services of a drunken 
beast that the Legislature of Pennsylvania presented 
Thomas Paine with five hundred pounds sterling ? 

Did the State of New York feel indebted to a drunken 
beast, and confer upon Thomas Paine an estate of several 
hundred acres ? 

Did the Congress of the United States thank him for 
his services because he had lived a drunken and beastly 
life ? 

Was he elected a member of the French Convention 
3 


26 


THOMAS PAIXE VINDICATED. 


because he was a drunken beast ? Was it the act of a 
drunken beast to put his own life in jeopardy by voting 
against the death of the king ? Was it because he was 
a drunken beast that he opposed the “ Eeign of Ter¬ 
ror?”— that he endeavored to stop the shedding of 
blood, and did all in his power to protect even his own 
enemies? 

Do the following extracts sound like the words of a 
drunken beast? 

I believe in the equality of man, and I believe that 
religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, 
and endeavoring to make our fellow creatures happy.” 

“ My own mind is my own church.” 

It is necessary to the happiness of man that he be 
mentally faithful to himself.” 

Any system of religion that shocks the mind of a 
child cannot be a true system.” 

“ The word of God is the creation which we behold.” 

“ The age of ignorance commenced with the Christian 
system.” 

“ It is with a pious fraud as with a bad action—it be¬ 
gets a calamitous necessity of going on.” 

“ To read the Bible without horror, we must undo 
everything that is tender, sympathizing, and benevolent 
in the heart of man.” 

“ The man does not exist who can say I have perse¬ 
cuted him, or that I have in any case returned evil for 
evil.” 

‘‘ Of all the tyrannies that afflict mankind, tyranny 
in religion is the worst.” 

“ The belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man.” 

“ My own opinion is, that those whose lives have been 
spent in doing good and endeavoring to make their fel¬ 
low mortals happy, will be happy hereafter.” 

“ The intellectual part of religion is a private affair 
between every man and his Maker, and in which no 
third party has any right to interfere. The practical 
part consists in our doing good to each other.” 

No man ought to make a living by religion. One 


THOMAS PAINE VINDICATED. 27 

person cannot act religion for another: every person 
must perform it for himself.’* 

‘‘One good schoolmaster is of more use than a hun¬ 
dred priests.” 

“ Let us propagate morality unfettered by supersti¬ 
tion.” 

“ God is the power, or "first cause, Nature is the law, 
and matter is the subject acted upon.” 

“ I believe in one God and no more, and I hope for 
happiness beyond this life.” 

“ The key of happiness is not in the keeping of any 
sect, nor ought the road to it be obstructed by any.” 

“ My religion, and the whole of it is, the fear and 
love of the Deity and universal philanthropy.” 

“ I have yet, I believe, some years in store, for I have 
a good state of health and a happy mind. I take care 
of both, by nourishing the first with temperance, and 
the latter with abundance.” 

“ He lives immured within a Bastile of a word.” 

How perfectly that sentence describes you ! The Bas¬ 
tile in which you are immured is the word “ Calvinism.” 

“ Man has no property in man.” 

What a splendid motto that would have made for the 
New York Observer in the olden time ! 

“ The world is my country ; to do good my religion.” 

1 ask you again whether these splendid utterances 
came from the lips of a drunken beast ? 


CONCLUSION. 


From the persistence with which the Orthodox have 
charged for the last sixty-eight years that Thomas Paine 
recanted, and that when dying he was filled with re¬ 
morse and fear; from the malignity of the attacks upon 
his personal character, I had concluded that there 
must be some evidence of some kind to support these 


28 


THOMAS PAINE VINDICATED. 


charges. Even with my ideas of the average honor of 
believers in superstition—the disciples, of fear, I did 
not quite believe that all these infamies rested solely on 
poorly attested lies. 1 had charity enough to suppose 
that something had been said or done by Thomas Paine 
capable of being tortured into a foundation for these 
calumnies. And I was foolish enough to think that even 
you would be willing to fairly examine the pretended 
evidence said to sustain these charges, and give your 
honest conclusion to the world. I supposed that you, 
being acquainted with the history of your country, felt 
under a certain obligation to Thomas Paine for the splen¬ 
did services rendered by him in the darkest days of the 
Eevolution. It was only reasonable to suppose that you 
were aware that in the midnight of Valley Forge, the 
^‘’Crisis,” by Thomas Paine, was the first star that glit¬ 
tered in the wide horizon of despair. I took it for grant¬ 
ed that you knew the bold stand taken and the brave 
words spoken by Thomas Paine in the French Conven¬ 
tion, against the death of the king. I thought it pro¬ 
bable that you, being an editor, had read the ^‘Eights 
of Manthat you knew Thomas Paine was a champion 
of human liberty ; that he was one of the founders and 
fathers of this republic ; that he was one of the foremost 
men of his age; that he had never written a word in 
favor of injustice; that he was a despiser of slavery; 
that he abhorred tyranny in all its forms ; that he was 
in the widest and highest sense a friend of his race; 
that his head was as clear as his heart was good, and 
that he had the courage to speak his honest thought. 

Under these circumstances 1 had hoped that you would 
for the moment forget your religious prejudices and sub¬ 
mit to the enligntened judgment or the world the evi¬ 
dence you had or could obtain, affecting in any way the 
character of so great and so generous a man. This you 
have refused to do. In my judgment you have mistaken 
the temper of even your own readers. A large majority 
of the religious people of this country have, to a consid¬ 
erable extent, outgrown the prejudices of their fathers. 


THOMAS PAINE VINDICATED. 


29 


They are willing to know the truth, and the whole truth, 
about the life and death of Thomas Paine. They will 
not thank you for having presented to them the moss- 
covered, the maimed and distorted traditions of igno¬ 
rance, prejudice, and credulity. By this course you will 
convince them, not of the wickedness of Paine, but of 
your own unfairness. 

What crime had Thomas Paine committed that he 
should have feared to die ? The only answer that you 
can give is, that he denied the inspiration of the Scrip¬ 
tures. If this is a crime, the civilized world is filled 
with criminals. The pioneers of human thought; the 
intellectual leaders of the world; the foremost men 
in every science; the kings of literature and art; those 
who stand in the front rank of investigation; the men 
who are civilizing, elevating, instructing, and refining 
mankind, are to day unbelievers in the dogma of inspi¬ 
ration. Upon this question the intellect of Christendom 
agrees with the conclusion reached by the genius of 
Thomas Paine. Centuries ago a noise was made for the 
purpose of frightening mankind. Orthodoxy is the echo 
of that noise 

The man who now regards the Old Testament as in 
any sense a sacred or inspired book is in my judgment 
an intellectual and moral deformit 3 ^ There is in it so 
much that is cruel, ignorant and ferocious, that it is to 
me a matter of amazement that it was ever thought to 
be the work of a most merciful Deit 3 % 

Upon the question of inspiration Thomas Paine gave 
his honest opinion. Can it be that to give an honest 
opinion, causes one to die in terror and despair ? Have 
you, in your writings, beefi actuated by the fear of such 
a consequence ? Why should it be taken for granted 
that Thomas Paine, who devoted his life to the sacred 
cause of freedom should have been hissed at in the hour 
of death by the snakes of conscience, while editors of 
Presbyterian papers who defended slavery as a divine 
institution, and cheerfully justified the stealing of babes 
from the breasts of mothers, are supposed to have passed 
30 


30 


THOMAS PAINE VINDICATED. 


smiliagly from earth to the embraces of angels ? Why 
should you think that the heroic author of the “ Rights 
of Man” should shudderingly dread to leave this “ bank 
and shoal of time,” while Calvin dripping with the blood 
of Servetus, was anxious to be judged of God ? Is it 
possible that the persecutors — the instigators of the 
massacre of St. Bartholomew — the inventors and users 
of thumb-screws, and iron boots, and racks — the burn¬ 
ers and tearers of human flesh—the stealers, whippers 
and enslavers of men — the buyers and beaters of babes 
and mothers—the founders of inquisitions—the makers 
of chains, the builders of dungeons, the slanderers of 
the living and the calumnia^tors of the dead, all died 
in the odor of sanctity, with white, forgiven hands fold¬ 
ed upon the breasts of peace, while the destroyers of 
prejudice — the apostles of humanity — the soldiers of 
liberty — the breakers of fetters — the creators of light 
— died surrounded with the fierce fiends of fear? 

In your attempt to destroy the character of Thomas 
Paine you have failed, and have succeeded only in leav¬ 
ing a stain upon your own. You have written words as 
cruel, bitter and heartless as the creed of Calvin. Here¬ 
after you will stand in the pillory of history as a defamer 
—a calumniator of the dead. You will be known as the 
man who said that Thomas Paine, the ‘‘ Author-Hero,” 
lived a drunken and beastly life, and died a drunken, 
cowardly, and beastly death. These infamous words 
will be branded upon the forehead of your reputation. 
They will be remembered against you, when all else 
you may have uttered shall have passed from the mem¬ 
ory of men. 


ROBERT G. INGERSOLL. 


THOMAS PAINE VINDICATED. 


31 


R. G. INGERSOLL’S SECOND REPLY TO 
THE NEW YORK OBSERVER. 


Peoria^ (III,) Nov. 2, 1877. 
To THE Editor of the N. Y. Observer:— 

You ought to have honesty enough to admit that you 
did, in your paper of July 19th, offer to prove that the 
absurd story that Thomas Paine died in terror and agony 
on account of the religious opinions he had expressed, 
was true. You ought to have fairness enough to admit 
that you called upon me to deposit one thousand dollars 
with an honest man, that you might, by proving that 
Thomas Paine did die in terror, obtain the money. 

You ought to have honor enough to admit that you 
challenged me and that you commenced the present 
controversy concerning Thomas Paine. 

You ought to have goodness enough to admit that 
you were mistaken in the charges you made. 

You ought to have manhood enough to do what you 
falsely asserted that Thomas Paine did: you ought to 
recant. You ought to admit publicly that you slan¬ 
dered the dead; that you falsified history; that you 
defamed the defenceless; that you deliberately denied 
what you had published in your own paper. There is 
an old saying to the effect that open confession is good 
for the soul. To you is presented a splendid opportu¬ 
nity of testing the truth of this saying. 

Nothing has astonished me more than your lack of 
common honesty exhibited in this controversy. In your 
last, you quote from Dr. J. W Francis. Why did you 
leave out that portion in which Dr. Francis says that 
Cheetham with settled malignity wrote the life of Paine? 
Why did you leave out that part in which Dr. Francis 
says that Cheetham in the same way slandered Alexan- 



82 


THOMAS PAINE VINi^ICATED. 


der Hamilton and De Witt Clinton? Is it your business 
to suppress the truth? Why diJ you not publish the 
entire letter of Bish-^p Fenwick? Was it because it 
proved beyond all cavil that Thomas Paine did not re¬ 
cant? Was it because in the li^ht of that letter Mary 
Roscoe, Mary Hinsdale, and Grant Thorburn appeared 
unworthy of belief? Dr. J. W. Francis says in the same 
article from which you quoted, “ Paine clung to his Infi- 
delity until the last moment of his lifeP Why did you 
not publish that? It was the first line immediately 
above what you did quote. You must have seen it.— 
Why did you suppress it? A lawyer, doing a thing of 
this character, is denominated a shyster. I do not know 
the appropriate word to designate a theologian guiiiy of 
such an act. 

You brought forward three witnesses, pretending to 
have personal knowledge about the life and death of 
Thomas Paine:—Grant Thorburn, Mary Roscoe, and 
Mary Hinsdale. In my reply, I took the ground that 
Mary Roscoe and Mary Hinsdale must have been the 
same person. I thougnt it impossible that Paine should 
have had a conversation with Mary Roscoe, and then 
one precis'ly like it with Mary Hinsdale. Acting gpon 
this conviction, I proceeded ta show that the conver-a- 
tion never could have happened. That it was absurdly 
false to saytbat Paine asked the opinion of a girl as to 
his works who had never read but little ofthem. I then 
showed by the testimony of William Cobbett that he 
visited Mary Hinsdale in 1819, taking with him a state* 
ment concerning the recantation of Paine, given him 
by Mr. Codins, and that upon being shown this state¬ 
ment she said that “ it was so long ago that she could 
not speak positively to any part of the matter—that she 
would not say any part ot the paper was true.’’ At that 
time she knew nothing, and remembered nothing. I 
also showed that she was a kind of standing witness to 
prove that others recanted; and Willet Hicks denounced 
her as unworthy of belief. 

To day, the following from the New York World was 
received, showing that 1 was right in my conjecture:— 

TOM PAINE'S DEATH-BED. 

To the Editor of the World: 

Sir—I see by your paper that Bob Ingersoll discredits 


THOMAS PAIKE VINDICATED. 


33 


Mary Hinsdale’s story of the scenes which occurred at 
the death bed of Thomas Paine. No one who knew that 
good lady would for one moment doubt her veracity 
or question her testimony. Both she and her husband 
were Quaker preachers, and well known and respected 
inhabitants of Nevv York City. Ingersoll is right in his 
conjecture that Mary Hoscoe and Mary Hinsdale was the 
same person. Her maiden name’was Roscoe, and she 
married Henry Hinsdale. My mother was a Roscoe, a 
niece ot Mary Roscoe, and lived with her for some time. 
I have heard her relate the story ofTOm Paine’s dying 
remorse, as told her by her aunt, who was a witness to 
it. She says, (in a letter I have just received from her) 
“ he (Tom Paine) suffered fearfully from remorse, and 
renounced his Infidel principles, calling on God to for¬ 
give him, and wishing his pamphlets and books to be 
burned, saying he coiild not die in peace until it was 
done.” 

(Rev.) A.W. Coenell. 

Harper smile ^ New York. 

You will notice that the testimony of Mary Hinsdale 
has been drawing interest since 1809, and has materially 
increased. If Paine “ suffered fearfully from remorse, 
renounced his Infidel opinions, and called on God to 
forgive him,” it is hardly generous for the Christian 
world to fasten the fangs of malice in the flesh of his 
reputation. 

So Mary Roscoe was Mary Hinsdale, and as Mary 
Hinsdale has been shown by her own admission to Mr. 
Cobbett, to have known nothing of the matter; and as 
Mary Hinsdale was not, according to Mr. Willett Hicks, 
worthy of belief—as she told a falsehood of the same 
kind about Maiy Lockwood, and was, according to Mr. 
Collins, addicted to the use of opium—this disposes of 
her and her testimony. 

There remains upon the stand Grant Thorburn. Con¬ 
cerning this witness, I received, yesterday, from the 
eminent biographer and essayist, James Parton, the fol¬ 
lowing epistle:— 

Newhuryportj Mass. 

Col. R. G. Ingersoll:— 

Touching Grant Thorburn, I personally know him to 


34 


THOMAS PAINE VINDICATED. 


have been a dishonest man. At the a^e of ninety two, 
be copied, with trembling hand, a piece from a newspa¬ 
per and brought it to the otBco cf the “ Home JournoV'^ 
as his own. It was I who received it and detected the 
deliberate forgery. If 3011 are ever going to continue 
this subject, 1 will give you the exact facts. 

Fervently yours, James Parton. 

After this, you are welcome to w'hat remains of Grant 
Thorburn. 

There is one thing that I have noticed during this 
controversy regarding Thomas Paine. In no instance 
that I now calfto mind, has anj^ Christian writer spoken 
respectfully of Mr. Paine. All have taken i)artieular 
pains to call him “ Tom ” Paine. Is it not a little, 
strnge that religion should make men so coarse and ill- 
mannered? 

I have often wondered what these same gentlemen 
would say if I should speak of the men eminent in the 
annals of Christianity in the same way. What would 
they say if I should write about “ Tim” Dwight, old 
“ Ad ” Clark, “ Tom ” Scott, “ Bill ” Hamilton, “ Jim ” 
McKnight, “ Dick ” Whately, “Jack” Calvin, and 
“ Bill ” Paley? They would say of me then, just what 
I think of them now. 

Even if we have religion, do not let us try to get 
along without good manners. Rudeness is exceedingly 
unbecoming, even in a saint. Persons who forgive 
their enemies ought, to sa}-" the least, to treat with po¬ 
liteness those who have never injured them. 

It is exceedingly gratifying to me that I have com¬ 
pelled you to say that “ Paine died a blaspheming Infi¬ 
del.” Hereafter it is to be hoped nothing will be 
heard about his having recanted. As an answer to such 
slander his friends can confidentlyquote the following 
from the New York Observer of November 1st, 1877 : 
“We have never stated in any form, nor have 

WE EVER SUPPOSED, THAT PaINE ACTUALLY RE¬ 
NOUNCED HIS Infidelity. The accounts agree 
in stating that he died a blaspheming Infi¬ 
del.” 

This for all coming time will refute the slanders of 
the churches yet to be. 

Right here allow me to ask: If you never supposed 


TnOMAS PAINE VINDICATED. 


35 


that Paine renounced hi«s Infidelity, why did you try to 
prove by Mary Hinsdale that which you believed to bo 
untrue? 

From the bottom of mv heart I think mvself for hav¬ 
ing compelled you to aumit that Thomas Paine did not 
recant. 

For the purpose of verifying your own admission con¬ 
cerning the death of Mr. Paine, permit me to call your 
attention to the following afiida\it:— 

Wabash^ {Indiana,) Oct. 27, 1877. 
Col. B. G. Ingersoll:— 

Pear Sir:—The followinsr statement of facts is at your 
disposal. In they ear 1833, Willet Ilicks made a visit to 
Indiana and stayed over night at my father’s house, 
four miles east of Richmond. In the morning, at 
breakfast, my mother asked Willet Hicks the follow¬ 
ing questions:— 

Was thee with Thomas Paine daring his last sick¬ 
ness? ” 

Mr. Ilicks said: “I was with him everyday during 
the latter part of hislast sickness.’^ 

‘‘ Did he express any regret in regard to writing the 
‘ Age of Reason,^ as the published accounts say he did 
—those accounts that have the credit of emanating 
from his Catholic housekeeper? ’’ 

Mr. Hicks replied: “ He did not in any way by word 
or action.” 

“ Did he call on God or Jesus Christ asking either 
of them to forgive his sins, or did he curse them or 
either of them? ” 

Mr. Hicks answered: “ He did not. He died as easy 
as any one I ever sawdie, and I have seen many die in 
my time.” 

William B. Barnes. 

Subscribed and sworn to before me, Oct.27,1877. 

Warren Bigler, Notary Public. 

You say in your last that “ Thomas Paine was aban¬ 
doned of God.” So far as this controversy is concerned, 
it seems to me that in that sentence you have most 
graphically described your own condition. 

Wishing you success in all honest undertakings, I 
remain, yours truly, 


Robert G- Ingersoll. 




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